Peoria In Pictures

Last One

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 14:55:00 +0000

of the Peoria pics:

I really should make more of an effort to get up this early to take pics but I'm just not a morning person.

More Peoria

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:01:00 +0000

I've been trying to get this picture of the Murray Baker bridge and Peoria for a long time now but never had someone to walk up the Bob Michel bridge with until this past weekend. I'm glad now I managed to drag myself out of bed early enough to do this:

Saturday, here in the park...

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 17:01:00 +0000

Went out to the Bob Michel bridge at the ~~ungodly hour of~~ buttcrack of dawn with some friends. We wanted to capture the Murray Baker Bridge as the sun came up. I've still yet to post process those pics but I'm not liking what I've seen so far. This one, on the other hand, I DO like:

Stacy and I wandered a little further to the right and ended up ~~tripping/sliding~~ hiking down the embankment to get photos from the other side of the bridge. Will post those later if they're any good. Sometimes it's just a trial and error thing.

Sky Watch Friday

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:39:00 +0000

Went out to lunch with the Husband and stopped by the Walmart parking lot afterwards to get a pic of the sky for today's theme:

Was hoping to get some cloud blur but it started raining on me. Also, the clouds were just too light to really show up. Ah well.

Finally Friday

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Here's the last one of my jaunt through the Forest Park Nature Center:

I was standing in front of that fence, chatting with a fellow photog about angles and points of views when I noticed the view behind him. I made him move so I could snap this photo.

True Colors Thursday

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Ok, the chosen color for today is black BUT, all I've got is orange and yellow so that will have to do. However, in keeping with the "true colors" theme, I can tell you that the Fall colors were so vibrant that day that they jumped off the pixel. I didn't enhance this picture at all (hopefully its brightness will come across as intensely as it comes across for me):

The only sad thing about Fall is that it eventually does end and then the blah of winter settles in for the long haul. Ug.

Sit and Chat Awhile

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:00:00 +0000

This must be everybody's favorite bench. I've seen it in quite a few photos and I've taken a few myself but I think this is my favorite pic of that place so far. Those Fall colors really made that bench look super cozy that day:

Two for Tuesday

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 13:00:00 +0000

More from the Forest Park Nature Center. This one was taken in the first big meadow you cross as you make a decision on which of the many trails you want to hike.

Some parts of the park still looked pretty green:

Monochrome Monday - Forest Park Nature Center

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:00:00 +0000

I took a walk through the Forest Park Nature Center this past weekend. It's one of the first places I visited when we first moved here so it's always a treat to go back there. I especially like visiting in the Fall because it's one of a handful of places where you can really see the trees change color. The next few pics will be from that place, starting with this one:

Here it is in color:

You tell me which one you like more. Personally, I prefer the one in color.

Check out more Monochrome Magic here.

True Colors Thursday

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Well, looks like the color of the week is green but I got nothing green so I'm gonna bend the rules a little bit here and go with orange. Hey, it's the best I can do today. May it put you in the Fall spirit:

Two for Tuesday - Tanner's Orchard

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Gotta love pumpkins. These looked especially friendly this day, almost as if they were beckoning me to take them home. Unfortunately, the line into the store was so long, people spilled out onto the sidewalk and as far back as the parking lot. It took at least 30 minutes of waiting in line in the cold, cold windy weather just to get into the store. So, sadly, I had to pass the pumpkins up.

Monochrome Monday

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 13:00:00 +0000

Ok, the first day of Themes week and I'm already bending the rules. I'm so bad! This isn't exactly a monochrome but pretty close. I did try it in black and white but it lost it's warmth and appeal so I kept the original colors:

Check out more Monochrome Magic by clicking on this link.

Themes Week

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 15:32:00 +0000

BJ Roan over at Rubbish by Roan suggested I play along with the themes she posts on her blog every week, which, as best as I can figure out, go like this:

Monochrome Monday
Two for Tuesday
True Colors Thursday
Sky Watch Friday

It sounds pretty challenging from my perspective, which is exactly what I need right now so I thought I'd give it a try this week to see how it goes.

On that note, the Flickr Group hung out at Tanner's Orchard on Saturday for a little while. If you don't know, Tanner's Orchard is located in Speer, IL, and hosts a large maize maze you can get lost in. They also have rides and activities for the kiddies--lots of really cool stuff. Unfortunately,
the day we went was colder than a witche's ti....um, it was cold and I froze my butt off because I wasn't dressed appropriately. Hey, the sun was shining and I was fine when I left my house. The clouds took over by the time I got there though. The wind definitely didn't help me recover any from the cold I've been nursing for the last few days either. By the time I got home my throat and head were hurting BUT, I got some Fall pics I'll be using this week for the theme days so check back Monday to see the first one.

A Little Bit of Home

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:29:00 +0000

Now that I've got this new, zippy computer, I've been able to look back through my files at old pictures-- specifically all those unprocessed photos that I had set aside to "look at one day when I have time" (read: my computer's too slow to bother with these right now and might never, ever be fast enough to do this but I'll hold on to these pictures because one day, ONE DAY, I'll be able to do what I want with them).

One I'd set aside was a panorama of home I took in June of 2008. It's comprised of about twenty separate images that come together under Photoshop's CS3 File-->Automate-->Photomerge command. It took about half an hour for these to come together but I really like the result. You'll have to click it to big it. It'll give you a better understanding of why I miss home so much:

Photographer's Rights

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 19:43:00 +0000

Perhaps one of the most common questions I hear as a photographer is:

"What are a photographer's rights when it comes to taking pictures?"

Can you take pictures inside a bar? Can you take a picture of an accident scene? My friend Dave over at the Central Illinois Photoblog wrote a great post and linked to this gem of an article that was put together by Bert P. Krages. It clearly explains what a photographer can and can't do.

Welcome to Fall

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 18:50:00 +0000

One thing's for sure: it wasn't much of a summer this year. I don't think there was one day where I cursed the heat or the humidity for being excessive. We slept with the windows open just about every night and ran the a/c maybe five times the entire summer. Yes, this summer was more than tolerable; it was cool and very pleasant but it made me miss that constant southwest heat, the kind that makes you feel as if you're sitting under a giant hair dryer set to low and no matter where you move you can't get away from it.

But, no matter how much I don't want it to get here, Fall is creeping in. Time to get the camera out again and join the Peoria Flickr group at Tanner's Orchard at the end of this month so I can keep the blog going. See here for the details.

My bad about being rather absent these last few months. I didn't realize how frustrated I'd grown with my slow computer that I was intentionally not post processing many photos. I tried to look for cheap workarounds (the reason I gave LightRoom a test run this past month) but in the end I had to admit a major upgrade was needed so I bought an Imac.

I can't tell you enough how much of a difference this has already made in my work flow. It's amazing! Not only can I have CS3 and Itunes open at the same time (which is a must) but I get to see how Bridge (a photo catalog program) works with CS3. I'm now able to preview a photo in Bridge, pick the one I want, double click it and it opens instantly in CS3 where I can tweak it. I couldn't do this on my old machine because loading a photo in bridge took about 5 minutes. Talk about frustrating! But I'm a happy camper now as I sit in front of this 24" screen, getting monitor tan. :)

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 14:36:00 +0000

Nothing marks the end of summer more for me than when the bean fields turn yellow. Then I know the cold, nasty weather is just around the corner. *sigh*

I can see the light...room...maybe.

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:38:00 +0000

I don't think I told you all but the Husband surprised me with a new camera on my birthday over the summer. It's a major upgrade from my Nikon D50, which was a very good but very basic, entry-level digitial SLR. It got me started along this path but, as eventually happens with very basic things, I outgrew it last year. There were numerous things I wanted to try that my little D50 couldn't handle. So I whined for the appropriate amount of time and the Husband broke down and got me a D300. (That's really not the way it happened but it sounds good. ;) I was actually saving my pennies to get one but I must have looked pretty pathetic cause he broke down and helped me out financially. He's a good, good man!)

The D300 has many, many more bells and whistles but is considered the middle of road when it comes to cameras. It's for those of us who are seriously into photography but not serious enough to make a good living at it. Okay, that's not entirely true. I do know a few pros who use this camera.

Anyhow, I'm still getting to know this camera and am just beginning to test out what it can do. It's kinda like oohing and aahing at the pretty cherry red Ferrari and then popping the hood to see what's in there. I'm still in the oohing and aahing stages but am getting closer and closer to checking out what's under the hood.

But along with the new camera comes the dreaded "chain reaction upgrade." That's when you realize that the new toy you just bought isn't supported by the computer you use to download the bigger pic files and you're gonna need a bigger hard drive in which to store them in, etc. I've got PS CS3 but my old Mac G4 isn't up to the task of running that memory-hogging program without some major slowdowns and bottlenecks. My biggest gripe is that I can't run CS3 AND Itunes and, come on, what kind of photographer edits pictures without music playing in the background? Seriously!

So this evening I've spent time looking into Photoshop's Lightroom. I've heard it runs on less memory and does almost as much as CS3 without the sluggishness. I just downloaded the trial version and it did download fast. It also installed rather quickly so 2 for 2 so far. Will it be what I need? I'll let you know.

Can't. Lift. Arms.

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:27:00 +0000

In a moment of motivation, and after a string of "fat" days and realizing I was starting to struggle with the zipper on my biggest pair of jeans, I signed up for the gym.

I don't regret it ~~yet~~ and I did get three sessions with a trainer who is teaching me a lot about posture and that yes, I CAN lift two ten pound dumbells at the same time. Heck, I was so proud of myself after our first session that I celebrated with a Dairy Queen Blizzard afterwards.

Yes. That's really true.

I know, I know. I undid the reason I signed up for the gym anyway but life is short and you gotta eat dessert first, no?

So now I've been going to the gym for a week straight, which is just a wee under how long I worked out using that stack of DVDs I bought a few months back thinking, heck, who needs the gym when I can just work out at home with these? Famous last words.

So far, my toughest workouts are with the trainer. I'm apparently much to nice on myself when he's not around. He leaves me with rubbery legs and arms that can't go higher than the keyboard on my laptop and my leg shakes all the way home when it works the clutch in my car. Even so, it's a good feeling.

Now I just have to stop celebrating with those Blizzards afterwards.

Ug.

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 23:26:00 +0000

Like my vegetable garden, which is overgrown to the point of not being able to find the tomato plants, the blog got away from me.

It's been a busy work year for me, which came as an unexpected surprise. I worked part time last year and didn't expect to pick up any more hours, but it's happened. I'm tremendously grateful to my employer for that, believe me, but the extra hours have cut into the little bit of free time I had for photography. Still, I'm not complaining. The photos will start coming again once I get into a good routine. I'm still trying to feel my way around this new work schedule.

In the meantime, the Peoria Flickr group has another outing coming up on Sept. 19. Destination is the Wildlife Prairie State Park. You can find all the details here. Hope to see you there!

And now for something completely different...

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 19:17:00 +0000

You know how sometimes you get a song stuck in your head for awhile and it rolls around in there until you either hear it or something else comes around and drowns it out until it's gone? I'm a little bit different in that my brain sings to me 24/7 and I can't drown out the songs. They play in my head either loudly and proudly or quietly in the background. Every day is a new song...mostly. Sometimes I get one stuck in there for months. The last few months it's been Paul Simon's "Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard."

Seriously.

So I decided to get it unstuck by turning it into a series of photographs using small flashes placed in strategic places and my willing-to-experiment, patient photographer friends. This is what I have so far:

"Mama Pajama rolled out of bed
and she ran to the police station"

"When the Papa found out
he began to shout
and started the investigation"

I have the rest of the photos to the remaining lyrics composed in my head already. They will be forthcoming in the months ahead.

By the way, you can read about the debate behind the meaning of the lyrics here if you're interested.

Flickrites

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 19:01:00 +0000

One of the best things about having Flickr meet-ups and walk-abouts and get-togethers is the people I get to meet. I've been trying to get more into portrait photography so I took advantage of our meet-up to take pictures of some of the folks on our walk.

Meet Maria. She's an awesome lady who takes some really cool HD pics. You can find her stuff here:

This is Mike. This guy is great fun to hang around and he was a good sport when I asked him to pose this way and that for me until I got the pic I wanted--more or less. You can find his stuff here, including this lomo which I think captured the spirit of the day very well.

Meet Tim. He's one of the moderators for our group and also a great sports photographer. Tim also does a lot of volunteer work out at Wildlife Prairie Park with his family. Check out his stuff here.

What can I say about Bill? He's another group mod who loves hamming it up for the camera. I don't think anyone has a serious pic of Bill in their photo library. His stuff is here.

Lastly, a group shot. We talked them all into doing the Bill "Tiger" pose for this pic:

The Peoria flickr group is having another meetup on August 22nd from 9-11 am. It's a scavenger hunt at Springdale Cemetery. All the info is here. If you haven't made it to one yet but want to see what we're all about, this would be a great time to check us out.

Apple of my Eye

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:50:00 +0000

Someone just left this apple sitting on the ledge exactly like I found it:

Alcove Secrets

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 18:06:00 +0000

The alcove in the Sacred Heart Church across the street from the Peoria Civic Center is perhaps one of my favorite places to visit.

Yellow

peoriainpictures@gmail.com (Lola Takes Pictures) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 01:31:00 +0000

Yellow is one of my all time favorite colors. Found this one in front of the Civic Center windows:

That's the Sacred Heart Church and a little bit of downtown Peoria reflected in the window.